- ioiis- to refciie .thefer<Jifebveries -from Hiding into oblivion,
and to- preferve them to the duriofity arid information of the
Public; I therefore^engaged a volunteer in thevbufinefs,
ptopofihg to Mr. Watson* that if his friend Captain Wilson
would give me his journals and papers, and procure me
-all .the living teftimonies then in-England, that I would
myfelf undertake.the work;—on this condition, that the .labour
ffiould be mine’, the advantage Captain W ilson^s:--5-
After I had, with great attention, gone over all the Journals
and papers, and tranfcribed them, the better to'{fix
them in my memory, and to direct my future inquiries, ' I
had -the benefit of a reference, both to Captaih-WiLson
iujd~his -’Ife^Tdvirihg^teir flay in England, for' what-fur-
ther or fuller information d required ; ahd,- after the Captain’s
departure, I had alfo, in the beginning- of 1786, whilft
the fails were recent, the affiftaoce and information of fiich
of his officers as remained in this eountry^ WhO,' fdr many
weeks, were fb good as to devotethemfelves, as: it individually
fuked them, to this bufinefs. The tian&ftionstef every
day, as recorded m the journals', were minutely gonethrough;
and it was a great pleafure to n^e, in taking their filtrate
relations, to find no material difference in their accounts of
the faCts or occurrences, hut, on the contrary, the mod perfect
agreement.- Thus, enlarged by the additions of the
Gentlemen {who were themfelves in fome fcenes the-- foie
aCtors, the Work, for a year and a half, lay dormant, 'waiting
Captain W il son’s return from Be n g a l , who arrived
the
m
I ’ N T R O D Ü C Y I O hf.
th^ 'lhtte’r erfd^bfi laft •fumm^rfyfih'^^^Jtiine e^eiy part
of it hath’5b!ynV$fe‘vife% and^'ghhe over,5* withfyih&dmoff > ■
I'Tdrupuldu^ exaitnefs - arid-atfeHti-oh; aM I ämikyfelf firmly
perfuaded’, ncflivork of thii UatuieMbse^Sh to the'
Phblic, in' every relf>e<5t'’bette'r authenticate!.: ■
~ i fhould not have fho-rnghe to hlv& hfen,tinned'
the manneruU Which I haW%c?hHn£tfed this publication, had
I not been 'WvWe;jd¥!'ffiefb '.being fc^neäiäUd'fitüäti®hsC& itr
which migh^ft^rtle mKriy of- ’rny bur, althB truth
of them’can be fully eftabliffied, they will fetve:i:0,;prqvethAtr>
gbod’ferife, 'and moral redlitude, may txiff in' niahy üncral1^
lized^^nsfwKretife Öf'pdlMhed
] if& are nof!always difpofed to* admit them.
• Thofe who- arfe acquainted with the voyages to thefij^rTB
S$Xs; thuft have remarked V gt ’eat ibhilitudein theiuanner^
of 'the iflandsf Scattered*. oveF that immenföhe^^lit'.the
iCfahre time it cannot haveeicaped their notihe,' thaLtherWaro
euftoms and'characters peculiar to particular
group.—The fame obfervatiort Ts j^phcabie4' to^the inhaM^
tahts' of the Pelew'Islands;- who, tho’ in.many1 ^efpyCts;’
, refembling their $ Southern tq
have many charadteriftical..featt3®QslQf their ow-n-rr-wh^ch an
intelligent reader- will £afily difcoyein ,
, As there was a draughtfmahb’on, hoard the• A lobe,
hefidea two or three 3&ith dtawir^W
a faithful portrait joffhe King qf^fepEW^ and on’e bf- l^s<
wives, together with fome pidturefque views of the eouhi-f,
8 r ; , wweeriee